UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

A principle in quantum physics, formulated by Heisenberg: "It is impossible to simultaneously measure the position and the momentum of atomic particles with an arbitrary degree of accuracy". The principle recognizes the fact that, on the atomic level, any measuring process involves energy which by necessity interferes with the energy measured. bremermann's limit on the amount of information a material system can process is an outgrowth of this principle. A less quantifiable uncertainty principle exists in the social sciences: "Any interaction between an observer and the observed changes both. The more an observer probes, the more difficult it is for him to obtain INFORMATION about the initial STATE of what he observers and the more are his observations contaminated by his own efforts" (seeself-reference). (Krippendorff)